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MRI scan 'could help stroke patients get vital treatment'

New scientific research suggests that an MRI scan of the brain could identify more patients eligible for a potentially life-saving treatment.

According to research published in the latest edition of the journal Radiology, scientists at the Universite Paris Descartes in France have discovered a way of using MRI data to predict precisely when a stroke had occurred, with 90 per cent accuracy.

Being able to identify when a stroke occurred gives doctors the opportunity to administer tissue plasminogen activator drugs, which dissolve the clot and restore the blood flow.

Use of these drugs is restricted to the three hours immediately after the stroke occurs - hence the need to be able to work out a price time that it struck.

"With the use of MRI, all stroke patients could be managed urgently, not just those patients with a known onset of symptoms," said study leader Dr Catherine Oppenheim.

New Zealander Marcus King recently announced to the New Zealand Herald that he is planning to bring his computer game system, which has been proven to help stroke patients regain limb mobility, to the UK.

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